Air India Express has instructed its first officers to address the pilot-in-command not as ‘Sir’ but by their first name or simply as ‘Captain’ to instil an informal environment in the cockpit.

According to a report in TOI, the circular issued by the airline referred to an October 2018 Trichy incident in which the aircraft hit a ground-based navigation aid before having a tail strike. It hit the upper portion of the airport boundary wall before taking off leaving the aircraft with a fissured underbelly.

According to an investigation report released last month by the Aircraft Accident Bureau, the incident was caused by a sudden and unexpected reclining of the commander’s seat during the take-off roll.

As the chair reclined, the commander accidentally pulled back the thrust level reducing the power on the engines. The report added that both the pilots failed to register the thrust and take corrective measures —deeming it a communication failure between the pilots.

The airline said the recent circular was aimed at reducing “trans-cockpit-authority-gradient” and inculcating a more formal cockpit environment in the cockpit. 

“It is proposed that in order to improve cockpit resource management (communication process in the multi-crew cockpit) and reduce trans-cockpit-authority-gradient, a more informal cockpit environment is required. This may be a generational and culture shift and may take time to reap results,” said the Air India Express circular which issued the instruction that pilot-in-command be either called by their first name or simply as ‘Captain’.

The TOI report quoting an air safety expert said owing to cultural issues, referring to a senior by her first name does not go down well especially in organisations like Air India Express, but calling pilot-in-command as ‘Captain’ would work.